The effective operation of the modern economy depends on the ready availability of payment mechanisms by which funds can be transferred between parties. A number of mechanisms have been available for use both at the point of sale and for collection of debts relating to earlier sales. At the point of sale, the most popular payment mechanisms in recent times have been cash, personal checks, and bank-issued credit cards, including MasterCard (TM), VISA (TM), Discover (TM), and American Express (TM). Other methods of payment include store-issued credit accounts, bank account debit cards, Cash-on-Delivery (COD), and contracted payment plans in which the customer agrees to pay for goods or services according to a predetermined schedule.
Cash in advance is the only one of these methods that is not subject to a later non-payment or revocation which would prevent the merchant from collecting the amount due. Personal checks may be returned for insufficient funds and are subject to stop payment orders by the maker. Credit card sales are subject to federal laws which permit non-payment or at least a considerable delay of payment if the customer indicates dissatisfaction with the quality of goods or services rendered. The issuers of credit cards, credit accounts, and payment plans run the risk that the credit bill, even if not disputed, will not be paid according to the credit agreement. Debit card sales are subject to federal electronic funds transfer regulations which make it possible under some circumstances to later disallow a transaction. Cash-on-delivery transactions may be rejected by the purchaser at the time of delivery, leaving the seller to absorb the cost of the failed delivery. While some refusals of payment are the result of a legitimate dispute between the buyer and seller, many of these cases are a breach of the customer's duty to pay. Losses from bad debts must be absorbed by the merchant and passed along to future customers. Thus, most merchants might prefer to collect from their customers in cash.
However, the risk of loss inherent in carrying large amounts of cash discourages many people from carrying cash and using it to pay for more expensive goods and services. Also, when goods or services are to be delivered at a later time, customers do not wish to pay in advance and thereby assume the risk of default or bankruptcy of the seller before the goods or services are delivered. Finally, in many cases the customer does not have the funds to make the purchase, and needs to finance the purchase by borrowing. For these reasons and others, these alternative payment mechanisms have collectively become much more popular than paying cash in advance and merchants necessarily offer alternative payment methods.
Various systems have been developed to reduce the risk to merchants in accepting checks or other non-cash instruments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,607 to Carlson et al. shows a point-of-sale system for verifying availability of funds so the merchant can determine whether to accept a check. Of course, such systems do not guard against a subsequent stop payment order being issued by the customer.
The popularity of these "promises to pay" has also resulted in the growth of an entire collection industry devoted to finally collecting debts represented by checks, credit accounts, and payment agreements in cases where the debts have not been timely paid.
When a debt goes unpaid, a merchant or credit issuer may hire a collection agency to seek recovery of the debt. The collection agency generally contacts the debtor repeatedly by phone and/or mail in an attempt to obtain payment. Generally, the collection agencies try to persuade the debtor to mail a check to the collection agency in payment of the debt. Of course, debtors often put off payment with the oft-used line "the check is in the mail." Even if a check is received, it is subject to dishonor as noted above. Collection agencies may also accept credit cards, but many debtors do not have credit cards or do not have sufficient credit to pay the amount due using a credit card. Also, a wire service is offered by Western Union (TM), for example, which allows persons to pay by cash or check at a remote location and have the funds transferred to the collection agency, for a substantial fee. This system requires that the debtor physically go to a wire transfer office to pay, and is less desirable and effective for that reason.
Because of the substantial manual effort involved in repeatedly contacting a debtor, collection agencies are often paid in the form of a substantial percentage of the amounts collected. Again, this represents a loss to the merchant which must be recovered through increased prices to future customers.
As noted above, one particular type of debt that often causes collection problems is an agreement to make scheduled payments. A variety of goods and services, such as automobiles, homes, major dry goods, and health club memberships, are often purchased on payment plans. Because of the repeated nature of the payments, it is possible that even the most diligent payor may, at some point, forget to mail a payment or send it late. Also, while the mail system in developed countries such as the United States achieves a very high delivery rate, it is statistically inevitable that some mailed payments will not be delivered.
One solution to the problems of reliably collecting repeated payments is a pre-authorized electronic debit. Many large and well-connected creditors, such as banks and the finance arms of automobile manufacturers, generate monthly tapes of authorized payments which are then processed electronically within the banking system. Funds are withdrawn from the checking account of the consumer and transferred directly to the creditor. This service has recently been made available to smaller accounts with a substantial per-transaction charge. However, this electronic banking system is primarily adapted for processing pre-authorized transfers on particular predetermined dates, and deposits therefore cannot be processed entirely at the convenience of the parties. A connection with a bank is needed, which either involves obtaining and maintaining a direct connection or the use of a transaction processing company. Also, such electronic funds transfers cannot be authorized by telephone; a written authorization is legally required, so that immediate authorized collection of a debt cannot be accomplished by this method.
Other automated payment systems have been developed, but do not achieve the advantages of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,945 to Thomson et al. shows a system for generating regular checks, such as for the payment of utility bills, on customer accounts using a laser printer with a magnetic toner cartridge. Using stored account information, an authorized check to the payee is generated by the central system and transmitted to the payor for approval, signing, and return. While this system may be advantageous for the limited purpose disclosed, it does not provide a system in which transfers are authorized by telephone and executed without mail delays.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,264 to Deming shows a system in which a customer can electronically pay bills using a computer. The customer's computer transmits an order to pay a bill to a central location, and a paper draft is generated for transmission to the payee. Funds availability may be verified before generation of the draft. This system requires that the debtor have particular computer equipment, and would therefore be ineffective in generalized debt collection situations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,981 to Benton et al. discloses a method and system for transferring funds in which the customer's signed order to pay is transmitted to the bank by fax. The bank's fax receiver is equipped with character recognition equipment which takes the necessary information from the order, after which the system verifies funds availability and makes the payment requested if the funds are available. This system can only be used in cases where the bank involved has the required special equipment and the customer is present to sign the payment instructions.
Therefore, the inventor believes there is a need for an improved system and method for collection of debts which can be used for immediately debiting a debtor's bank account when the debtor authorizes this collection method by telephone.